From sarees to slow living, the artist-entrepreneur builds worlds where culture, community, and nature thrive.
The moment you step into Faiza Ahmed’s studio, the air carries the faint, meditative scent of agarbati. The space feels less like a workplace and more like a sanctuary. A pillow embroidered with Casablanca rests on a chair, while handwoven cotton sarees drape across the walls like art. In the next room, a long wooden table stands ready for guests who come to savor vegan meals under her label Sanchayita, a home-based dining club that has become one of her boldest ventures. On social media, she shares these flavors with warmth and conviction—sometimes a hearty curry, other times a jar of handmade pickles.
A Strategic Move
Now based in Gulshan, Faiza greets me with an apologetic smile. “We only moved here two months ago. I’m still tidying things up,” she admits. For her, the location is more than convenience. “The expat community has always been a great support. Gulshan feels perfect—it’s where people come to explore culture, and I love being part of that discovery.”
That spirit of enterprise has always been part of her. “I believe that when people pay for something, they value it more,” she asserts.
Her love for drawing soon became her compass. Defying her family’s hopes for medicine or engineering, she chose fine arts. “I was walking past the Fine Arts Department at Dhaka University, and I just knew—that’s where I belonged,” she says. By then, she was already teaching children to draw, earning her own income and feeling “kind of self-reliant.”
Manas: More than Fashion
From sketches to bold ventures, Faiza has stayed true to her instincts—uncompromising, creative, and quietly radical.
Her first label, Manas, was her entry into fashionpreneurship, but it was never just about clothes. “I didn’t want to simply design and sell garments. I wanted to celebrate stories, history, culture, heritage—and, above all, Bangladesh.”
For her, this is not strategy but belief. “Some may say it doesn’t make business sense, but it’s deeply personal. It’s what I believe in, and I’ll continue no matter what.”
Her recent collaboration with actor-turned-artist Bipasha Hayat beautifully continues that spirit. During the pandemic, Hayat created a stone artwork titled Cast My Vote for Socrates’ Acquittal, inspired by the ancient trial where 220 jurors voted in favor of Socrates’ release. She crafted the piece as part of a broader initiative to champion human rights, justice, and the courage to question. The work comprises 221 stones—symbolizing the 220 votes for acquittal, plus her own. This thought-provoking creation deeply resonated with Faiza Ahmed, inspiring her to weave the same ethos of conviction and introspection into her latest saree collection. “Bipasha was incredibly generous in allowing me to incorporate her work,” Faiza shares gratefully.
A Vegan Vanguard
Alongside Manas, Faiza began turning her love for cooking into something larger. Today, she is among the pioneers of Dhaka’s vegan food movement.
“The community keeps growing as more people step away from meat and discover the delicacies born from our soil,” she says. Even at home, she has seen the shift. “My son isn’t vegan, but he has fallen in love with vegetables—often preferring them over meat.”
Guarding Cultural Memory
Faiza’s vision extends beyond commerce. She seeks to keep cultural memory alive through her work.
“I see so many Gen Z audiences unaware of our history, and it breaks my heart,” she says. One incident still lingers. “A magazine writer once had no idea who Michael Madhusudan Dutt was—my collection at the time was inspired by his poetry. I had to ask her to study him before we continued the interview.”
This urgency inspired her initiative Vi-Rohana Shirni, a community gathering built around food and harmony. The idea draws from the traditional shirni ritual, where food prepared with love is shared for spiritual cleansing. Reviving it at Jatra Biroti last year, she was overwhelmed by the response. “Everyone participated with open hearts, contributing whatever they could. The spirit of harmony and inclusiveness touched everyone,” she recalls.
A Legacy in Slow Living
These experiences have encouraged Faiza to dream bigger. She is already in talks to acquire land for setting up a unique arrangement where people will go for destination dining—a sanctuary to embrace slow living, savor organic food, and reconnect with nature.
As a proud artist, she hopes the project will become part of her legacy. “In a world so overwhelmed by the artificial, whether material or technological, the only true answer lies in reconnecting with nature and the simple warmth of human connection,” she reflects, her voice steady with hope.
